NE Kansas Saturday Stars: Jan. 23

<p>A week packed with high school basketball wound up on Saturday with some great performances. Here are a few from northeast Kansas who starred on Jan. 23:</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1076411" first="Fred" last="Criqui"], junior, St Marys:</p> <p>The 6-foot-7 Criqui went against Nemaha Central’s two excellent bigs, Mark and [player_tooltip player_id="1076409" first="Kurtis" last="Beck"], and came out on top. The Bears, ranked #5 in 3A, were victorious 51-46, due in large part to Criqui’s 21 points.</p> <p><strong>Isaac Detweiler</strong>, sophomore, Axtell</p> <p>One of the top sophomores in the area led his team to a 48-41 win over Blue Valley-Randolph. The 5-foot-9 Detweiler is building on an excellent freshman year when he averaged 10 points per game. He directs the offense, dishes the ball, and can score in bunches. Axtell is currently ranked #9 in 1A Div. 2, and it was Detweiler who led the way with 18 on Saturday.</p> <p><strong>Chris Dixon</strong>, senior, Junction City:</p> <p>Unfortunately, the Blue Jays had to face Carroll, ranked #8 in 5A, without their dynamic guard [player_tooltip player_id="1076405" first="Howard" last="Johnson"]. The 6-foot-4 Dixon did his best to take up the slack, hitting 10 shots, including three 3-pointers, to finish with 23. The Blue Jays didn’t have enough firepower, however, and lost 61-46 to Carroll, which got 20 from [player_tooltip player_id="889462" first="Alex" last="Littlejohn"].</p> <p><strong>Jeremiah Duncan</strong>, senior, Blue Valley-Randoph:</p> <p>Notable in defeat was the effort by the 6-foot-4 center Duncan. He contributed more than half his points, tallying 22 in the loss.</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1072932" first="Stavian" last="Jones"], senior, Seabury:</p> <p>Seabury continues to scuffle, but the efforts of Jones are worthy of note. In a 76-73 loss to KC-Ward, the second-team 2A guard poured in 35 points. He hit on six 3-pointers.</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1076414" first="Emmitt" last="Jueneman"], junior, Hanover:</p> <p>The #3 ranked team in 1A Div. 2 was led to a victory over Clifton-Clyde by Jueneman’s 23 points. The junior hit 8-10 from the line.</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1076412" first="Brady" last="Klotz"], junior, Royal Valley:</p> <p>The rugged forward does a lot of the hard work for Royal Valley. Scoring a lot of points isn’t usually his role. He hadn’t scored more than 12 this season. But on Saturday, Klotz hit 12 shots from the field and finished 27 in a 56-50 win over Chapman. More performances like that will make the #6 team in 3A tough to beat.</p> <p><strong>Kael McQueen</strong>, senior, Wetmore:</p> <p>Wetmore picked up a 56-41 victory over Onaga, in large part thanks to the career night of the 5-foot-10 senior guard. McQueen hit four 3-pointers, went 4-4 from the line, and finished with 32 points.</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1070207" first="Kale" last="Purcell"], senior, Holton:</p> <p>Holton accepted a huge challenge Saturday, taking on the incredible height of Desoto, currently ranked #6 in 5A. Standing 6-foot-3, Purcell had to provide most of the resistance to Desoto’s 6-foot-9 [player_tooltip player_id="889460" first="Nate" last="Barnhart"] (12 points) and 6-foot-4 [player_tooltip player_id="1070199" first="Wyatt" last="Noll"] (18 points). Purcell and the Wildcats really held their ground. Though they ultimately lost 51-45, Purcell hit for 15.</p> <p><strong>Dylan Thompson</strong>, senior, Jackson Heights</p> <p>Jackson Heights has started to get things rolling since the break, and the 6-foot-4 Thompson has been a catalyst. After producing 24 points the last time out, he rolled up 21 points in a win over St. Mary’s Academy.</p>